The Desolate Era

Ji Ning nodded lightly. “It should be time to undergo the tribulation. However, prior to doing so...I want to make a trip back to Swallow Mountain. You can think of this as a way to calm myself prior to the tribulation. Honestly, as I see it...in my Celestial Tribulation, I expect the wind tribulation, fire tribulation, and thunder tribulations to be comparatively easy to deal with, while the demonheart tribulation will be the toughest.”

He had karmic sinflames covering him, after all; the demonheart tribulation would probably be truly terrifying.

“Alright.” Yu Wei was somewhat worried as well.

“Give Master a head’s up. We’re going back to Swallow Mountain today,” Ning said.

“Whatever you say,” Yu Wei said with a smile.

That very day, Ning and Yu Wei returned to Swallow Mountain.

......

Swallow Mountain. Serpentwing Lake. Brightheart Island.

“Ah!? Master, you...you are actually having a baby with Rainbowflame? And you didn’t tell me?! You didn’t tell me something as important as this?! You’re breaking my heart! Wowowow!” Little Qing stared at Yu Wei’s belly, utterly excited. “Master, let your child be my disciple, alright?”

“You? Based on what? Don’t even think about leading that poor child astray.” The nearby Uncle White chortled merrily while seated. He was actually the happiest one of them all.

An heir!

Ji Ning had an heir!

If my big brother and my sister-in-law were still alive...I can’t even imagine how happy they would be right now.

“Senior apprentice-brother, I insist on being godfather to your child.” Mu Northson was similarly unable to disguise his joy and eagerness.

“Fine. However, as his godfather, you need to prepare some quality gifts. As a grandmaster of constructs...you absolutely have to bring out some particularly nice things.” Ning laughed. Giving his junior apprentice-brother something to care about was a wonderful thing.

“Stop just chatting. Quick, all of you, sit.”

The door swung open, and Autumn Leaf walked in carrying a platter of sumptuous foods.

Everyone was gathered here together, eating, drinking, and joking around.

Ning’s heart grew increasingly calm, increasingly peaceful.

For some inexplicable reason, he wanted to come back before his Celestial Tribulation. Aside from meeting with these familiar faces...he wanted to see Serpentwing Lake.

......

A boat was drifting about on the surface of Serpentwing Lake. Ji Ning lay within it, sleeping by himself.

Mist gathered in the area around him.

Eventually, Ning sat up. He stretched out with his hand, gently gliding it through the water beneath the boat. He said softly, “Father, Mother...when you were alive, you had always hoped that my name would be known throughout the world. And now...your child has accomplished it! In fact, your child’s name is now known even in other major worlds. And now, in a few days, your child shall undergo the Celestial Tribulation.”

“Your child swears this...I will definitely become a True God and a Daofather. I’ll stand at the very peak of the Three Realms...and at that point in time, I’ll see you again. I’ll tell you all of these things in person. As for this tribulation...it’s be nothing more a small wave before the great storm to come.”

It was as though Ji Ning was engaging in idle banter with his family members. He just glided his hand through the water as he spoke. His voice, however, contained a decisiveness and an ambition that would cause the faces of those who heard it to change.

......

A beautiful gorge, with many palaces built within it, as well as many flowers, trees, and other forms of vegetation. It was as beautiful as paradise.

Two supremely lovely Immortal maidens who were even more astonishingly beautiful than Yu Wei were walking through it, shoulder-by-shoulder.

One of them was dressed in green, while the other was dressed in gray.

The peerless fairy maiden dressed in gray sackcloth clothes was walking barefoot. The gray clothes covering her were completely unable to disguise her beauty; in fact, they gave her a spiritual aura that it seem as though she transcended the mortal world. Countles male Immortals and Fiends would go mad just looking at her. She was the leader of the Seven Female Immortals of the Hundred Tombs Mountain, ‘Fairy Deadgrass’.

The Hundred Tombs Mountain, a place within the Heaven Realm where spiritual energy gathered in abundance. In the Primordial Era, it used to be a place where many of the most powerful deceased Fiendgods would be buried, which was why it was known as the ‘Hundred Tombs Mountain’. However, because so many powerful Fiendgods had been buried there, the place had become even more mysterious. Many flowers and trees had grown in that place, many of which possessed spiritual qualities. In fact, some of them spontaneously trained in cultivation!

It was incredibly difficult for flowers and plants to train in cultivation; since they all came from the Hundred Tombs Mountain, they were naturally an extremely unified group.

After they were able to take human form, they all appeared as women.

The Hundred Tombs Mountain had many Loose Immortals and Earth Immortals, as well as six Celestial Immortals and one Pure Yang True Immortal.

Of those maidens...Fairy Deadgrass was the Pure Yang True Immortal! She was originally a blade of grass that looked dry and withered, but that blade of grass was incredibly marvelous; no other flowers or types of vegetation were able to survive at all within a very large region around her. After taking human form as an Earth Immortal, she had been able to effortlessly overcome her Celestial Tribulation, becoming the number one Celestial Immortal of the Hundred Tombs Mountain. She was extremely reserved, and the more one interacted with her, the more intoxicated one would feel. In fact, even the Celestial Emperor of the Three Realms had been smitten by her. He had wanted to sneak in to court her, but who would’ve thought that upon entering the Hundred Tombs Mountain, the Celestial Emperor would have been physically kicked out, a single word echoing throughout the entire Heaven Realm:

“SCRAM!”

The Celestial Emperor had slunk away in disgrace.

After that, many in the Three Realms began to hypothesize that Fairy Deadgrass had to have a True God or Daofather behind her. However...given that Fairy Deadgrass was arguably one of the most peerless beauties of the entire Three Realms, it wasn’t strange for her to have attracted the attention of a True God or a Daofather.

“Elder sister.” The green-robed fairy maiden’s eyes glistened with tears. “Little sister Violetgrass died such a miserable death. She was just a little girl, but that ‘Ji Ning’ showed her no mercy at all. My husband went all-out to defend her, and even sent a mental message ordering him to stop...but Ji Ning still killed little sister Violetgrass. Elder sister...you have to take revenge for her!”

A cold light flashed through the eyes of Fairy Deadgrass. She said calmly, “We Seven Female Immortals of the Hundred Tombs Mountain...we aren’t killed so easily. Who is this Ji Ning, and where does he come from? Your husband, True Immortal Gaudy, is quite powerful; could it be that even he was unable to kill him?”

“This Ji Ning is merely a Void-level Fiendgod; he hasn’t even overcome his tribulation,” the green-robed woman said. “However, he is extremely powerful; although he is merely a Void-level Fiendgod, he was able to block my husband for a period of time.”

“He blocked Gaudy?” Fairy Deadgrass was startled.

There was a tremendous difference in power between Celestial Immortals and True Immortals. To block a True Immortal...only the rarest and most monstrously talented Celestial Immortals of the Three Realms were capable of such a thing.

“According to what my husband said, although he wanted to kill Ji Ning very much, Ji Ning’s power has indeed reached the threshold of Empyrean Gods and True Immortals,” the green-robed woman said. “In addition, the Xia Emperor of the Grand Xia insisted on protecting Ji Ning. And...a True God or Daofather master stands behind Ji Ning! Right; I forgot to tell you this, but this Ji Ning has trained in the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] as well.”

Fairy Deadgrass’ body stiffened.

“Understood.” Fairy Deadgrass stood there pensively.

The green-robed fairy maiden stood next to her, waiting impatiently.

She knew very well that her elder sister was capable of many things; naturally, she was hoping that her elder sister would help out.

“Elder sister?” The green-robed fairy maiden called out softly.

“The Seven Female Immortals of the Hundred Tombs Mountain...Violetgrass was the youngest, and she had always followed you. I only met her a few times after she overcame her tribulation to become a Celestial Immortal. Although there isn’t much of a relationship between us...no matter what, she came from our Hundred Tombs Mountain. If memory serves, after she left you, she went to follow Azurefox, right?” Fairy Deadgrass said.

“Right.” The green-robed woman nodded.

“I’ll go meet Azurefox tomorrow,” Fairy Deadgrass said calmly.

There were many female Immortals in the Hundred Tombs Mountain, including a large group of Earth Immortals and Loose Immortals. Due to the Three Calamities and Nine Tribulations, most found it hard to live for more than a million years. Thus, the earliest ones who were born, such as Fairy Deadgrass, didn’t have much of a connection to the latecomers; they only had close connections to the others who were also born early on. Violetgrass was one of the latecomers; she had first followed many powerful figures, but had actually been lucky enough to ecome a Celestial Immortal. If it weren’t for that, Fairy Deadgrass probably wouldn’t even remember who she was.

......

The Fifth World.

Within that towering palace, the Gatemaster of the Seamless Gate, ‘Azurefox’, was accompanying her guest, Fairy Deadgrass.

“Little sister Deadgrass, I’ve already told you the full details to this story.” Gatemaster Azurefox shook her head. “To tell you the truth...our Seamless Gate wants to kill Ji Ning more badly than any of you do. If he doesn’t die, then he will become a dangerous variable that will impact our plans to subjugate the Grand Xia. He already has the power to impact the situation right now, much less in the future when he grows more powerful. Thus, the earlier we kill him, the better. However, I haven’t been able to find a good opportunity to do this. After all, he’s very tough to kill, with the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] protecting him. And once we fail in killing him...the Immortals that we send to deal with him might end up being killed by the figure standing behind him.”

Fairy Deadgrass frowned.

She was an incredibly proud figure...but there was no way she would blindly rush into danger.

“Azurefox.”

An enraged bellow rang out, and a long-haired man came storming in with a terrifying look in his eyes.

“Blackheaven.” Gatemaster Azurefox and Fairy Deadgrass both watched him enter. He was one of the marvels amongst the countless Celestial Immortals of the Three Realms, Celestial Immortal Blackheaven. From the Primordial Era to the current era, no one had ever been able to determine for sure exactly how powerful Celestial Immortal Blackheaven was. However, what they did find out suggested that he was most likely just as powerful as a supreme Celestial Immortal.

Still...when he engaged in fights, he often used many strange, heterodox techniques that caused even Empyrean Gods and True Immortals problems! For example, when True Immortal Gaudy had gone to kill Ji Ning, Ji Ning had been able to use his archery to block him. Celestial Immortal Blackheaven, however...he would’ve been able to rely on his heterodox techniques to escape. Thus, the Empyrean Gods and True Immortals of the Three Realms treated him as they would an equal.

“Violetgrass DIED?! You, the ‘exalted Gatemaster of the Seamless Gate’...why the hell didn’t you help take care of her? Do you remember the words you told me, back then?!” Celestial Immortal Blackheaven was livid. He would never forget that little girl who had just started to take human form, and who had followed him around addressing him as ‘old geezer’. He had always beamed merrily towards that little girl.

“I was unable to do anything. I couldn’t make it in time.” Gatemaster Azurefox shook her head.

“Damn.” A cold light flashed through Blackheaven’s eyes. “The Godking has three hundred Seamless Gates under his command. If you can’t even protect one of your maids, do you really think you are worthy of being one of the Gatemasters?”

“Blackheaven, you go too far!” A dark, cold light flashed through Azurefox’s eyes as well, and her azure hair began to float upwards.

“I go too far? You’re the one who went too far by letting Violetgrass die. I taught her step-by-step, helping her establish her foundation, so that she could quickly become a Celestial Immortal, and a supreme one at that! I never imagined that...damn. You letting her take on missions was one thing, but you actually let her take on such a terrifyingly dangerous mission?” Blackheaven was truly enraged.

“That stupid kid...she didn’t break the talisman I gave her.” A hint of tears could be seen in Blackheaven’s eyes, but the tears quickly vanished.

Celestial Immortal Blackheaven felt such regret.

He had roamed the Three Realms for his entire life, living in a carefree manner from the Primordial Era to the present day. He rarely came to truly care for someone, but he ended up treating that silly little girl who thought herself to be supremely clever as one of his own children. Who would’ve thought that they would’ve ended up being parted by death so soon?

In truth, when Violetgrass had been at the verge of death, she had thought of Celestial Immortal Blackheaven.

Long ago, Blackheaven had pounded his own chest and boasted proudly, “If there’s anything you need, come find me! I’ll give you three promises to accomplish three tasks for you. No matter how major the task is, I’ll be able to accomplish it.”

“Keep bragging, old geezer. You are just a Celestial Immortal, and you claim to be able to accomplish anything, no matter how major?”

Blackheaven had just smiled, not taking her seriously.

But he had forgotten...that when Violetgrass was in a truly dangerous situation, such as when she had seen how powerful Ji Ning was, how would she possibly dare to break the talisman he had given her? She was afraid; afraid that Blackheaven would’ve thrown his life away as well. Thus, the two talismans she had shattered belonged to True Immortals.

“Hmph.” Gatemaster Azurefox’s gaze flashed past Celestial Immortal Blackheaven. She let out an angry snort, then said, “I made a mistake. I wasn’t able to protect Violetgrass. This time...I’m not going to quibble with you over this.” Gatemaster Azurefox was one of the most loyal followers of the Godking, and so she knew very well that of the powers on her side, Celestial Immortal Blackheaven, a mere Celestial Immortal, was behaving in a far too relaxed and unrestricted manner. This relaxed manner caused Gatemaster Azurefox to feel as though something was off. This was why she swallowed her anger, unwilling to truly make an enemy out of Blackheaven right now.

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